"We must work together to rise above partisan friction to deliver more fairness to the people. We can't go on tearing each other up for short-term political gain." We can no longer accept the acrimony and bitterness from those pricks in the Republican party".

“Right now, American oil production is the highest that it’s been in eight years. That’s right — eight years. Not only that — last year, we relied less on foreign oil than in any of the past sixteen years.”

The first statement is a great statistic but not especially noteworthy because there has not been much change in the annual barrels produced in the United States since 2003; it essentially has been steady though it is slightly higher now than in previous years, according to the Energy Information Administration. Production is projected to increase in coming years.

The second claim made it into Obama’s first campaign ad, and as we have noted, it is lacking context. The Energy Department cited a host of reasons why foreign oil imports have declined, noting the main reason was “a significant contraction in consumption” because of the poor economy and changes in efficiency that began “two years before the 2008 crisis” — ie, before Obama took office...

“Take the money we’re no longer spending at war, use half of it to pay down our debt, and use the rest to do some nation-building right here at home.”

This is fanciful budget math. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were funded with borrowed money, so what Obama is really asking for is an increase in domestic spending relative to the Pentagon. The United States is still running huge deficits, so none of this imagined savings would “pay down the debt” until the United States once again began running surpluses. Instead, his proposal would continue to add to the debt...

It never hurts to keep reminding ourselves that none of the 'reductions' these guys keep talking about affect the baseline. They are merely reductions in the amount of future increases that are budgeted.

* “Contact with an employee or representative of a foreign government . . .

* “Sexual contact with a non-U.S. citizen.”

Not clear who you should report this last one to — your spouse or your control officer. We suggest that the latter, since he likely already monitored it, probably would be safer.

Some might suggest such contact is not going to be a significant problem for the NSA. As our colleague Dana Priest noted in her book “Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State,” the running joke amongst spooks at other agencies is: “How can you tell the extrovert at NSA?”

No project is more synonymous with waste and fraud than the “Big Dig”, the not-so-affectionate nickname given to the rerouting of Boston’s chief highway (Interstate 93) into a 3.5 mile tunnel beneath the city. Originally estimated to cost $2.5 billion in 1985, the project devolved into the most expensive highway project in U.S. history, costing some $14.6 billion in state and federal tax dollars by 2006. Countless contractor changes and environmental obstacles later, Boston.com lamented in 2008 that the Big Dig’s crushing debt had “engulfed the state”, ballooning to $22 billion that will not be paid off in full until 2038 – at the earliest. This assumes no more hurdles for a project whose oversights have already killed a motorist and led a Massachusetts attorney general to demand $100 million in refunds to taxpayers as a result of “shoddy work.” (This last comment might qualify as the understatement of the century.)

In terms of sheer excitement and anticipation, the superconducting super collider beats out everything on this list. In essence, the project was a tunnel inside which scientists would rev up beams of subatomic particles to breakneck speed and crash them into each other. Foreseen as a way to simulate the conditions of the Big Bang and thereby “allow scientists to gain new insights into the very nature of matter”, the ambitious project was unable to get out of its own way, skyrocketing in allotted budget from $5 billion to over $12 billion on the basis of little more than speculation on what other uses (cancer and HIV cures among them) it might serve once it was actually built. After stalled progress, however, 1993′s blitz of budget cuts pulled the plug on the tunnel before it was even one third of the way built. After that, Neatorama reports that it was “used to store Styrofoam cups” before being sold to a private concern for “pennies on the dollar.”

Many assume the government has extremely strict procedures for tracking the money entrusted to it by taxpayers. Believers in this view received a rude awakening in 2003, however, when it was reported that nearly $25 billion in government spending was totally unaccounted for. In typical fashion the mysterious disappearance of this mind-blowing sum was not publicly addressed. Rather,the only apparent record of the incident appears to be buried deep within the Treasury Department’s Financial Report of the United States Government of 2003, in a tiny section innocently entitled “Unreconciled Transactions Affecting the Change in Net Position.” (Perhaps more outrage would have ensued if the section were more bluntly titled “Spending Unaccounted For.”) Put in perspective, $25 billion is enough to fund the Department of Justice for a full calendar year.

Like so many grand and visionary government projects, “Railhead” – an online terrorist database meant to disseminate information to counter terrorism analysts – was done in by cost overruns and mismanagement. Recalling comments from Representative Brad Miller, chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee’s Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee, CNet.com notes “”Potentially hundreds of millions of dollars have been wasted, delivery schedules have slipped, contractor employees have been laid off.” Miller further stated that the net result was a database that “had been crippled by technical flaws”, replaced by “a new system that if actually deployed will leave our country more vulnerable than the existing yet flawed system in operation today.” While technical flaws have recieved the brunt of the blame for Railhead’s demise, contractor fraud played no small part. ZD Net, for example, reports that $500 million originally earmarked for Railhead actually went toward rennovating one of Boeing’s own buildings!

Much government waste comes not from specific failed projects, but the very way in which programs are designed. In reviewing “just a sample” of the federal budget during one year, the White House concluded that at least $90 billion was being burned on the altar of “programs that were deemed either ineffective, marginally adequate, or operating under a flawed purpose or design.” Unfortunately, just as few of us clean the rental car, it looks as though the opportunity to recover enough wasted money to fund three Justice Departments was largely ignored except for being mentioned in a few abstruse memos that the general public did not read

No recollection of outrageous government waste would be complete without mention of the U.S. Defense Department’s embarrassing credit card abuse. According to Fox News, some 36,000 DOD employees “had defaulted on $623 million in official travel expenses charged to the government cards” as of November 2001, and bad debts which had to be written off by banks were reported to have been “growing at the rate of $1 million per month.” Discovery of the eye-popping credit card abuse at the Defense Department triggered a flurry of Congressional hearings, especially amidst allegations that high-ranking officials were turning a blind eye to egrigious charges by personal associates and friends.

Gag Reflex:No project is more synonymous with waste and fraud than the “Big Dig”, the not-so-affectionate nickname given to the rerouting of Boston’s chief highway (Interstate 93) into a 3.5 mile tunnel beneath the city.

Now it's Seattle's turn, routing Highway 99 under the ground for (they promise) $3 billion dollars. The big controversy is that Seattle knows there's going to be overruns and they don't want to shell out for them, but pawn them off on the State instead.

No Gag, I'm a "fait accompli" kind of cyclist who thinks it silly and dangerous for bicycle riders to think they should act like cars on the road. The law of Gross Tonnage rules.

I don't get to ride about the city much these days as I'm the family chauffeur but riding is a great way to get about the big city - you move through traffic faster then the cars (at least during rush hour(s)) and you get a bit of exercise doing it. Unfortunately I can't get to a golf course on my bike and the clubs would be awkward to carry.

Still, what have you got against bike lanes? I presume you think only automobiles should be subsidized?

KHARTOUM, Sudan — American commandos raced into Somalia early Wednesday and rescued two aid workers, an American woman and a Danish man, after a shootout with Somali pirates who had been holding them captive for months.

The American forces — drawn from the same Navy commando unit that killed Osama bin Laden — swooped in and killed nine pirates before spiriting away the hostages, who were not harmed, American officials said...

Will (should) the US administration do the necessary paperwork to allow China, India, and others allies to continue doing business with US financial institutions? If 'yes' then doesn't that render the recent legislation useless and perpetuate the appeasement of Iran?

"In a bitter skirmish over the definition of depression, a new report contends that a proposed change to the diagnosis would characterize grieving as a disorder and greatly increase the number of people treated for it..."

So, if Charlie has a bank that does not do business in the US, well, that bank could process all the Iranian deals, and then be sanctioned, by US.

Significantly, foreign financial institutions will, after 29 February 2012, be restricted or prohibited from maintaining correspondent or pay-through accounts in the United States if they have “knowingly conducted or facilitated any significant financial transaction with the Central Bank of Iran. . . .”

To no real effect on financial institutions that do not do business, in the US.

Rat, I think you are reading the legislation mistakenly. The legislation is not simply targeting financial institutions doing business IN the US but rather financial institutions doing business WITH the US.

"A correspondent account is an account (often called a nostro or vostro account) established by a large banking institution to receive deposits from, make payments on behalf of, or handle other financial transactions for smaller financial institutions."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correspondent_account

"A correspondent payable through a nested account is an arrangement used by some to move money between financial institutions in foreign country and financial institutions in the United States. The correspondent part refers to an entity that is paid on behalf of the bank in the foreign country (or in the United States on behalf of a foreign financial institute) to move assets across borders.

U.S. Pay Through is designed for business customers issuing cheques destined for the United States. U.S. Dollar Pay Through facilitates the clearing of cheques drawn on your U.S. Dollar business account (domiciled at a Canadian branch of TD Canada Trust) through the U.S. Federal Reserve Cheque Clearing System. This helps make timely, trouble-free cheque negotiation to your U.S. suppliers.

What banks would currently qualify? Yes, they could charter one I suppose. Have they starting doing that?

In the past, rat, you were opining about the lack of effective sanctions. The current ones seem to have more teeth don't they? Enough teeth that we may require a larger footprint in the region if Iran getdesperatete enough to lash out by closing the Straits.

All of the professional Israel-First team has been singing Mr Obama's praises, after the Adler Advocates Assassination Affair.

It's all balance beam work, until November.

Mr Obama holds the leash on the "Big Dog", he's not lettin' go, again. I think he learned his lesson, in Afpakistan. From both General McChrystal and then, the helicopter failure at the Osama compound.

The "Brass" cannot be trusted ...and the equipment is not as good as the marketing ...

From Desert One ......through Blackhawk Down.On to a bird down in AbbottabadThen in August the Chinook was lost in Afghanistan, with 38 aboard.

That was the most telling part of the speech, when Mr Obama described the operation in Abbottobad.

Describing the helicopter going down.

It is the part of the story that has stayed with him, that he is telling US about. The part we know he watched on the satellite feed and it put his heart in his throat. Watching what could have been turning into a disaster unfold before his eyes.

More of a formative moment than popping Osama in the bedroom at the top of the stairs.

"It is the part of the story that has stayed with him, that he is telling US about. The part we know he watched on the satellite feed and it put his heart in his throat. Watching what could have been turning into a disaster unfold before his eyes."

You don't really believe that crap, do you, Rat? Although he really wants you to believe it. He is watching the ratings as we speak. Already working on his next speech. Reviewing the tapes, working his expressions, his posture, all to make it more believable, next time. I'm surprised he didnt get teary eyed.

He should try lightly biting his lower lip, like effing Clinton used to. That really got the minions going.

Iran wants the bomb for a number of reasons. People here have argued about what those reasons are. But those who push for regime change to stop Iran from getting the bomb are kidding themselves since the idea is also popular among the opposition there.

I believe, and people have been making the argument for months, that Iran will keep stalling until they have all the components needed to construct a bomb(s). What happens after that is the question. One of the answers to that question as posited in the link I put up from the NYT could be that like Japan they would get to the point of being able to construct a bomb overnight but will hold off doing it. At that point, they will be able to work out some way of 'meeting' the IAEA requirements and will get the sanctions lifted while still having the capability of quickly putting together a nuke.

Not an optimal solution by any means but probably the best we can expect.

The alternative to the sanctions is military action and unless Iran does something really really stupid that is unlikely to happen.

The copter losing lift and smashing to the ground, that is the image that stayed with him. The learning moment that exemplifies "Shit Happens", that military operations, even with the "Best of the Best" easily go wrong.

I do believe that if he had any doubts as to the efficiency of the US military, those doubts were reinforced by the realities he witnessed, via satellite, on the ground in Abbottabad.

The politics of the Generals, personified in McChrystal.

These truths will lead him away from the "military option" regarding Iran in 2012.

Plus all of the other cost/benefits that led Mr Bush away from the military option regarding Iran, tambien.

It is the part of the story that has stayed with him, that he is telling US about. The part we know he watched on the satellite feed and it put his heart in his throat. Watching what could have been turning into a disaster unfold before his eyes...

It surely may have put his heart in his throat. The consequences, not least of all political, had things gone south would have been enormous. But let's not forget the other side.

People credit him with making a difficult military and political decision. Was it really, at least from the political standpoint? What would the political damage have been if it were eventually found out (as we know it would be) that he knew were OBL was but didn't go after him?

Bush is still suffering from Tora Bora. This would have been much worse.

He has painted himself into a corner by making the closing of the Straits a "red line". It deprives him of the choice to go to war should Iran cross that "red line".

You talked about countries''interests' yesterday. There are few here advocating for military actions against Iran; however, at some point, a countries national interest' demand that the 'red line' be set.

If in fact there is a trigger point, much better that everyone know what it is. You are less likely to go to war over a miscalculation.

Will the Saudis come to Greece's and the rest of the Europeon Mediterranean financial rescue? I think that is an intricate part of the political formula.

Tricky.

The Saudis have said they would up production to try to offset the Iranian crude shortfall. But the Saudis did the same with Libya and it didn't work out so good.

The Saudis indicated they would step up to replace the Libyan crude that was taken off the market. They tried. They reformulated the sour crude they produce to make it more like the light crude out of Libya. I don't know what the reason (price differential, required more processing, etc?), but people didn't want it. The Saudis quickly pulled it from the market.

The thing is Quirk, the red line has been laid out and the new sanctions regime, if fully implemented, could push Iran over the red line (i.e. they feel the bite of sanctions to the extent they are existentially threatened).

If they should choose to attack shipping in the Straits Rat do you think the US could keep it open using the naval fleet alone? I am sceptical that is possible if Iran is determined especially if Insurance companies choose not to insure ships under that kind of threat which would effectively close the Straits.

...if fully implemented, could push Iran over the red line (i.e. they feel the bite of sanctions to the extent they are existentially threatened).

We have been over this before Ash. You talk about existentially threated, yet to shut down the Strait, Iran would have to be willing to commit virtual suicide. Sure they would hurt those depending on the Straits but one of those most dependant upon the straits for food, medicine, many of their supplies coming in and for badly needed funds from oil going out is Iran.

Quirk, that is what nations do when they feel existentially threatened - whatever is necessary.

Nonsense.

There has to be some point to trying to make a point. You have to make a choice between a very bad situation and a disasterous situation. What has it been, 50 years that Cuba has been suffering under US sanctions?

and Cuba has little power to resist. You say it would be suicide for Iran to close the Straits? Why? Who would suffer more - the Iranians or US? On the one hand you, we, have our calculations over the costs of the Straits being closed and the Iranians have theirs. If they are sufficiently 'sanctioned' from the rest of the world, their Rial in free fall, their young people uprising, the regime on the verge of collapse and that regime could very well figure that closing the Strait would better suit their interests than falling from power.

Look at it from the Iranian point of view: They close the Straits, oil prices spike, they engage in holy war with the Evil Empire (look how many young lads of Iran died ill armed against the Iraqis - helped by US) and they see who will collapse first. How long can the West last in its indebted state paying loads for that sweet nectar, that black gold?

Saw an article in the local paper last week about San Pedro Sula, Honduras now called the most dangerous city in the Americas. People are more afraid of the police than they are of the gangs.

Honduras is part of the Northern Triangle (Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala). Because of pressure in Mexico and Columbia, the drug cartels have migrated to the Northern Triangle where they find easy pickings by pouring in millions and buying off all levels of government and law enforcement.

Unlike in some countries where the cartels recruit local gangs and the unemployed, in Honduras it appears entire units of the national police work for the crime organizations.

IMO, I think pot use should be legalized here. It would cut the profits of many of the cartels at least in half and provide revenue for our government. Legalizing pot would be a first step to verify it had positive results. If it didn't, the decision could be reversed. If it did, other aspects of the War on Drugs could be looked at.

I say this in spite of the fact that tomorrow I will be attending a funeral for a nineteen year old kid that OD'd on drugs.

USA TODAY WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it expects to leave interest rates near zero for another two years, extending historically low borrowing costs until late 2014 as the economy continues to recover slowly ...

Timothy Geithner said he’s “pretty confident” he won’t be asked to continue serving as treasury secretary if President Obama wins re-election.

Geithner, in an interview with Bloomberg Television, said he plans on doing “something else.”

“He’s not going to ask me to stay on, I’m pretty confident,” Geithner said. “I’m confident he’ll be president. But I’m also confident he’s going to have the privilege of having another secretary of the Treasury.”

Failing to show early signs of momentum in the Sunshine State, presidential hopeful Rick Santorum on Wednesday signaled he may be cutting out of Florida before the state’s Jan. 31 primary.

Speaking to reporters here, the former Pennsylvania senator said was unsure if he would be in Florida the night of the primary, committing only to campaigning in the state over the next two days. On Saturday, he’ll head home to Virginia for fundraisers and to prepare his tax records which he plans to soon make public.

A Quinnipiac poll released this morning showed Santorum at 13 percent, more than 20 points behind both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.

Santorum should quit now. In fact he shouldn't have begun. Isn't Florida a winner take all state? If so, since he hasn't got a chance, he might as well go to the beach.

For example, at more than $2.5 million, the cost of providing security during 2010 to Las Vegas Sands’ CEO Sheldon Adelson and his family is more expensive than at any other company in the Russell 3000

Heh, my wife turned it off in the first couple of minutes, I lasted somewhat longer, but didn't make the ending.

First off, the speech was obviously very well rehearsed down to the last vocal inflection and raised eyebrow..in fact. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there were theatrical directions emanating from TOTUS tonight.

The Hollow Man spoke but I fear a great number of Hollow Men (& Women) were listening. How anybody with an above room temperature IQ can believe a single word out of Obama's mouth these days is beyond me. My personal BS meter just explodes every time he speaks. The Republican candidates have to STOP STOP STOP carping on each other. They are just providing great ammunition for the Democrats and diminishing each other in the eyes of the voting public. They should be hammering on Obama's record - the ghastly economic stats, the crippled energy industry, the chaotic foreign policy. Obama CANNOT run on his record but he doesn't have to if the Republican candidates continue in this circular firing squad mode!!!

To cheers and applause in an area that has suffered major job losses since the cancellation of the space shuttle, Gingrich said, “By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American.

“We will have commercial near-Earth activities that include science, tourism, and manufacturing, and are designed to create a robust industry precisely on the model of the development of the airlines of the 1930s, because it is in our interest to acquire so much experience in space that we clearly have a capacity that the Chinese and the Russians will never come anywhere close to matching.”…

Responding to rival Mitt Romney’s criticism of his proposal for a lunar settlement, Gingrich said, “When we have 13,000 Americans living on the moon, they can petition to become a state. And here’s the difference between romantics and so-called practical people. I wanted every young American to say to themselves, ‘I could be one of those 13,000. I could be a pioneer. I need to study science and math and engineering. I need to learn how to be a technician. I can be a part of building a bigger, better future.’”

By the daughter of Jupiter and Latona, Diana, heavenly, divine, the goddess of the hunt and moon and birthing, she of the wild animals and woodland, she having the power to talk to the animals, I have found my candidate.

Newt, far seer, culture bringer, far darting defender of American and all its allies, large and small, he the thinker of the many large thoughts, historian, legislator, slimmy lobbyist, its you, Newt!

Gingrich 2012!!

When we have 13,000 Americans living on the moon, they can petition to become a state

This is a continuation of the old LBJ tradition - "I don't want to go to bed by the light of a communist moon."

Yes!

I imagine myself out in northern Nevada, early night, the moon, huge, rising slowly, crawling up a ridge line of mountains.

That's my moon I think to myself. A slight tune, a melody of desire, and remembrance, comes to my mind, and I think, how the pioneers that came to this waste place, northern Nevada, land of snow capped mountains, this wasn't enough for them, their descendents are now aloft, up there, on the American Moon.

I unpack my telescope, I am going to wave.....when I focus on my countrymen.

"Mitt's firm belief in unlimited corporate campaign donations is what first got me really excited," said 48-year-old pipe fitter David Flores, adding that another reason he joined "Romney Nation" was because he found it "pretty cool" that Romney pays a lower income tax rate than he does. "Money is speech—that's what the First Amendment is all about. Finally, there's a candidate who speaks directly to me."

I always will vote, for the candidate who will be the best for the country. But this election is not like the others. I was in 2008, a democrat. The reason, I change my party, from democrat to Independent. I don't want no party to think and choose for me.. I knew in 2008, that 0bama will be a disaster for all of us, because I study and searched his past. i didn't trust him from the minute I saw him. So, i voted for McCain. I knew he will loose. I don't know why he wanted to be president when, even his own shadow scared him. Same thing is happening with Romney. I just don't have any confidence that he will be the " people's" president and not the RINO'S. I will vote for Gingrich. I know 0bama will play as dirty as he ever did in his life. I know also, that Gingrich will use the same tactics, without be frighten by him. The situation our Country is, We need somebody like Gingrich, he won't be afraid to stand up against 0bama. I'm sure of that.

At that point Barak leaned forward and said with the utmost solemnity: “And if a nuclear Iran covets and occupies some gulf state, who will liberate it? The bottom line is that we must deal with the problem now.”

....

“The Iranian regime will be several times more dangerous if it has a nuclear device in its hands,” he went on. “One that it could bring into the United States. It is not for nothing that it is establishing bases for itself in Latin America and creating links with drug dealers on the U.S.-Mexican border. This is happening in order to smuggle ordnance into the United States for the carrying out of terror attacks. Imagine this regime getting nuclear weapons to the U.S.-Mexico border and managing to smuggle it into Texas, for example. This is not a far-fetched scenario.”

Magnificent Ronald and the Founding Fathers of al Qaeda

“These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s founding fathers.” — Ronald Reagan while introducing the Mujahideen leaders to media on the White house lawns (1985). During Reagan’s 8 years in power, the CIA secretly sent billions of dollars of military aid to the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in a US-supported jihad against the Soviet Union. We repeated the insanity with ISIS against Syria.